SUPERFIT Stockton pensioner Harold "Sam" Salmon is still pumping iron at the grand old age of 91 - making him one of the oldest gym-goers in the country!

When Sam, as he prefers to be known, was born just after the end of the First World War, going to the gym was something you were forced to do in the army or at school.

Now, though, working out is a national obsession - and the pensioner, who attends Total Fitness gym in Stockton, three times a week, reckons it’s the reason he’s still alive and kicking.

“I have no doubts at all about that,” said Sam, who lives in Hartburn.

“I have always believed in exercise and I love it at the gym, where I go on all the equipment and use the pools.”

The pensioner’s three-hour routine starts with 20 minutes in the pool swimming lengths, then walking forwards and backwards in the water, followed by sessions on the step machine, spin bike and finally the weights.

“But I also like to go in the steam room just to relax and wind down,” explained Sam, who has three children, Gregory, 62, Robert, 60, and Elaine, 55, four grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

His wife Beryl, to whom he was married for 62 years, died three years ago. They often holidayed in Scotland, which, typically, involved more exercise - on a tandem bike!

Sam is accompanied to the gym - where he gets free memberships because he’s over 80 - by his friend Tom, a relative youngster at 74, who picks him up in the car, although Sam still drives his own car, a 10-year-old Vauxhall Corsa.

Sounding as alert as a man 30 years his junior, Sam says because of his lifelong belief in staying fit, he’s managed to avoid any serious illness, apart from being diagnosed as diabetic when he was 89.

“I’ve got diabetes, but it doesn’t stop me enjoying my food or having the occasional tot of whisky,” said the pensioner, who at 5ft 10ins, weighs just under 13st.

Sam has never smoked a cigarette in his life and as a youngster was a keen amateur footballer. And, when he quit the game at 32, he took up refereeing until being forced to retire at the age of 47.

“It was after that I started going to gyms and at the same time I cycled a lot, so I never lost my fitness. Also, I used to love dancing at the various clubs on Teesside, including the Maison in Stockton.”

During the Second World War he was not allowed to enlist because of the importance of his profession - making bombs in munitions factory foundries, including Ashmores in Stockton.

Instead he served with the Home Guard, where he played in the pipe and drum band.

When not going to the gym, Sam keeps his mind active with gardening, regular visits to museums with his son, and every Sunday he has dinner at his daughter’s house.

“I try to get out as much as I can,” he said. “I’m not one for hanging around the house and moping.”

Sam was described by Total Fitness manager Craig Saunders, inset, as “an inspiration”.

He said: “He’s a great guy, the sort of person I’ll be telling my friends and family about for years. Sam is always calm, has a smile on his face and speaks to everyone at the club. And the amazing thing is, he comes in with younger friends but he always ends up doing more than them.”